This page answers some of the most frequently asked questions about the services that Mollom offers.

What is Mollom?

The Mollom web service helps you maintain the content quality of websites based on user-generated content. Mollom uses Machine Learning techniques, language analysis and a reputation system to ease moderation and improve the overall quality of your website’s content. To understand how Mollom works, it may be helpful to read through the tutorial for the Mollom Drupal client.

How does Mollom basically work?

If a user posts a comment or other content to your website, your web server sends it to Mollom to be checked. Mollom generates a quality score for the content, which helps it determine if the content is spam. Your web server then accepts or rejects the post, depending on quality standards that you set. More details can be found here.

Why should I care about user-generated content?

The Internet has become a social meeting place where many users share ideas and information. Blogs, podcasts, forums, wikis, community websites and social networks are attracting ever more users. If users are able to engage with your website, they will tend to return to it, which can generate additional visits to your website.

Is my website’s content quality important?

Your visitors' experiences depend upon the quality of your content. High-quality websites attract more users and grow more quickly. Content quality also affects search engine results, which in turn influence factors such as the number of visitors, community growth and the amount of income that can be generated by advertising.

Will I see my website grow immediately when I use Mollom?

Mollom can help your website both grow immediately and for the long term. Using Mollom allows anonymous users to post content on your website. Currently, most websites require users to create an account before they are allowed to contribute, hoping that this precaution will improve the quality of contributed content. Enabling anonymous posting makes it much easier for people to participate in your website, and, therefore, for your website to quickly grow. As an added benefit, the improvement in overall content quality helps to attract more website visitors and contributors, assisting its continued growth and development.

Will Mollom ever replace all my website's moderation duties?

Although Mollom is based on machine learning and language analysis techniques, it is not likely to replace all moderation duties a human moderator can perform. However, it can reduce the effort required to moderate your website by automatically separating spam from legitimate content.

Doesn't filtering user content jeopardize freedom of speech?

No, because Mollom only specifically blocks spam.

Mollom utilizes a number of factors to determine the legitimacy of an individual post. It has a two-step method for blocking spam. If Mollom is confident that a piece of content is spam, it will be blocked. If Mollom is not confident that a piece of content is spam, it will mark the content as unsure. In those cases, depending on website configuration, the user will have to complete a CAPTCHA before the content can be accepted.

The moderator of the website then decides if the content is appropriate to display on the website. This process allows users to have legitimate discussions using keywords — such as Viagra, for example — that other spam blockers might block. For more information about this process, see the How Mollom works section on the Mollom website. If you have any concerns about your posts being blocked, please route those questions to the website you were visiting.

Who uses Mollom?

Mollom is used by leading online media and publishing companies, including Sony BMG, LinuxJournal, Adobe, Warner Brothers, Jupitermedia, and FastCompany, as well as many nonprofit organizations, personal blogs, and community websites. To read comments from Mollom users, visit the testimonials page on the Mollom website.